Saturday's Short Story - NAIA Pt. 1

Good evening everyone! My apologies for not posting this weekend's short story sooner. It was a beautiful day here in the great land of Canada. It was almost warm enough for my little cat Mr. Foozy to go outside without his sweater on. Now, I won't keep you any longer. Here is part 1 of NAIA:

Natalie Jones walked slowly through the forest, her long curly blonde hair rested neatly on her shoulders. It was a frigid Wednesday afternoon; mid-January’s snow fell peacefully all around her. There was not a single person in sight and the only noise to be heard was the crunching of her black boots in the snow. She shook the snow from her green winter coat; the flakes quickly disappeared, blending in with the rest of the white snow. She wished she could continue walking in the forest forever. She didn’t want to go back to work. Natalie worked as a research and field scientist at a company known as NAIA, which stood for New and Improved Animals. Her job was to research ways to genetically modify animals, then help complete the process of modifying them. She had been working non-stop for the past few months helping her team create a chimpanzee/lion mutant. In order to do this, they had to take strands of DNA from a lion and inject them into a chimpanzee, thus creating a creature with a chimpanzee body, mane, claws, a ghastly roar, and a frightening murderous instinct. The creature was also going to be equipped with a microchip that was used to track its location. This unearthly deformity was going to be used overseas as a military weapon. Natalie’s team was working to complete the female version of the mutant so that they would be able to bread the two creatures. Just as she was about to take another loop around the forest, Natalie’s phone started to ring, the tone echoing through the silent trees. She sighed as she withdrew the phone from her pocket, desperately hoping it wasn’t her work. She rolled her eyes when she saw her boss’ name displayed over the top of her iridescent screen. She quickly answered, holding her phone up to her ear,

“Hey, Michael, what’s up?” she asked, walking towards the exit of the forest instead of the path that would take her around another loop.

“Natalie!” shouted her panicked boss, “Natalie, we have a problem. Our newest mutant has escaped its enclosure!” When he said this, Natalie’s heart skipped a beat.

“I’ll be there in a minute!” she exclaimed before hanging up and embarking on the fastest sprint she had ever ran. When she finally arrived at her work building, she burst through the main entrance. There were people everywhere, shouting and frantically running around. Natalie’s assistant, Mary, met her at the entrance. Natalie slipped off her coat, exchanging it with the lab coat Mary had draped over her right arm. In her left hand, Mary held a tablet,

“Can I get an update?” asked Natalie, briskly walking through the main lobby to a set of doors that read Authorized Personnel Only. Mary, walking beside her, started to explain the details of what had occurred while she was gone. Mary listed possible locations of where the mutant could be. Unfortunately, the mutation was not yet equipped with the tracking device. The tracking device was supposed to be put in that afternoon. Natalie and Mary walked briskly down the dimly lit hallway; the squeaking of Natalie’s wet boots on the concrete floor echoed off the walls. The two soon reached Michael’s office. However, when they knocked on the door there was no answer. After knocking a second time, still with no reply, Mary slowly opened the door. What they found shocked them. They stood in the doorway, awestruck. The office, which was usually perfectly spotless with not a single paperclip out of place, was trashed. Papers were strewn across the room, Michael’s coffee mug was tipped over, a stream of dark brown liquid dripped off the desk. The window was wide open, the curtains torn to shreds. Snowflakes blew into the room accompanied by a chilled draft. Natalie shivered, pulling her lab coat around her. After standing, shocked, for a few seconds, Natalie entered the room, Mary pausing before following her. Natalie looked around, tipping the toppled coffee mug back into an upright position. As she continued to examine the room, Mary dropped to the floor and gasped,

“Nat look at this!” she exclaimed. Natalie knelt down beside Mary and ran her fingers along some marks in the floor. Claw marks.

“Uh oh. The mutant…it was here,” whispered Natalie before pulling her phone out of her pocket and tapping at the screen. She held it up to her ear for a short period of time before shaking her head and putting it back in her pocket, “No answer.” She stated, a grim look stretched across her face.

“Mary, stay here and call the police. Make sure that everyone here is doing their best trying to contact Michael and find the beast.” She ushered Mary out the door.

Mary ran down the hall back to the lobby. Natalie again glanced around the room, shuddering. She walked to the window and looked outside. She rested her hands on the window frame, ignoring the cold gusts of wind stinging her skin. She was about to try calling Michael again, but she noticed something. There was a torn blue piece of fabric laying on the ground below. Without thinking, Natalie climbed out of the window, landing with a thud. She had not anticipated the slippery patch of ice. She regained her footing and picked up the piece of fabric. She examined it for a few seconds before stuffing it in her lab coat pocket. Glancing up, she saw footprints in the snow. Some were from shoes and other from what she assumed to be the mutant.

She took a deep breath before taking off at a fast pace. Natalie had been a runner since she was just a young teenager. She loved running, but she had never expected to be using it in a situation like this. She followed the tracks until she reached an alleyway. She slowed to a walk, breathing heavily. She had just sprinted halfway across the city. The alleyway was gloomy and eerie, an unsettling feeling lurking in the air. She slowly continued to walk down the alleyway. Suddenly, she heard a quiet groan. She froze.The sound was coming from behind a dumpster against the wall. The footprints were also leading there.Natalie took a deep breath to try to calm her nerves before peering behind the dumpster. What she saw chilled her to the bone.